This invention relates to devices for overcoming male impotence and more particularly to a device applied externally to the shaft of the penis that inflates to constrict the shaft to enhance rigidity.
With advancing age, and also in certain pathological conditions, men may not be able to achieve an erection with sufficient rigidity for satisfactory coitis. Various devices of the prior art for overcoming the problem are surgically implanted within the penis. Some are permanently rigid and hinged. Others provide a flaccid inflatable chamber which becomes rigid when inflated with fluid. The inflating apparatus is also implanted within the body. These invasive procedures destroy normal tissue, they are attended by the usual surgical risks, such as infection and hemorrhage, and they are not always successful. There is little chance of restoring normal function when they are removed.
There is no way to temporarily try the devices to predict success following the operation. It is devastating to go through the expense, trauma, and risk of an irreversible procedure and then find out that it does not improve function. It is also discouraging to the physician to deal with the dissatisfied patient for whom he has recommended the procedure. Non surgical treatments includes use of a vacuum chamber to expand the penis followed by a constrive cuff at the base.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,275 issued Oct. 4, 1983 to Schroeder discloses a semi rigid annular ring having individual expandable chambers on the internal wall that is applied to the outside of the penis. A multiple lumen flexible conduit connected to the ring has individual connections for each chamber connecting to a pressure bulb and valve arrangement remote from the device for expanding and contracting the chambers in sequence in a wave fashion to allow only one chamber at a time to be pressurized, sending pressure down only one of the lumens at a time. This is a cumbersome, and complex apparatus which may allow blood to pass back to the heart while a chamber is being depressurized.